Categories for Moderns
Literature, Moderns, Videos
The Story Behind A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
In this short film, Las Vegas bookseller Christy Shannon tells you the story behind Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Read More
Literature, Moderns
I Seek Another Place: Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Bluebeard”
The French folktale of a murderous nobleman called Bluebeard had been around for the better part of two centuries by the time Charles Perrault published his version in Histoires ou… Read More
Literature, Moderns
The Story Behind Lolita By Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap,… Read More
Literature, Moderns
Salinger
If you’re a reader of this website it means you’re probably in to literary things, so it’s likely no stretch on my part to assume you’re aware of the new… Read More
Literature, Moderns
J R by William Gaddis
The path to favorite books is hardly ever the same. Whether assigned to you in school, recommended by a friend, a familial right of passage, or just bought in the… Read More
Literature, Moderns, Rare Books 101
Collecting First Novels
I’ve always thought first novels would make for a cool book collection. Something about these books always seemed inspiring and maddening to me at the same time. Read More
Literature, Moderns
The Greatest Year in American Literature
Was 1929 the greatest year in American literature? I think so. 1850-1855 had a run that’s still unmatched: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Moby-Dick (1851), Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Walden (1854), and… Read More
Literature, Moderns
The Story Behind the First Edition of Ulysses by James Joyce
The first edition of perhaps the greatest English book of the 20th century was published by a bookstore, in Paris, which had never printed a book before, and never would… Read More